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Retailers Told ‘Value British Food More’ - NFU

UK - The NFU is urging supermarkets not to devalue food by entering into price wars which have the potential to undermine British farmers and growers’ businesses.

As this week saw one retailer cut the shelf price of four pints of milk to a £1, the NFU warned that this must not be the start of a trend which leads to longer-term impacts on British farmers.

NFU President Meurig Raymond said: “We recognise that it is an incredibly competitive retail environment and that many retailers, including discounters, had already lowered the cost of staple items, such as milk, before this week’s announcement by Tesco. What’s important is that these price wars do not undermine the value of the products which farmers and growers work tirelessly to produce and meet world class standards.

“What we want to see is decisions on pricing that ensures the longer term sustainability of food production - enabling continual growth and investment in the raw material production so that we are able to grow, innovate and provide choice to meet future consumer demand.

“While Tesco has been quick to point out that this latest price promotion will not impact on farm-gate prices, we are never-the-less concerned about the impact of a price war having an undermining effect on farm gate prices and so we will be monitoring all retailers, to ensure that these price promotions do not get passed back to the farmer.”